Saturday, February 05, 2005

Bush Buddy Allawi Losing in Early Iraqi Voting Results

We may soon find out just how much Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld really want true democratic reforms in Iraq, or if they want "democracy" in oil-rich Iraq only if it produces Bush-favored, Bush-managed results. From the San Francisco Chronicle this afternoon. Read the entire article here.-------------------------"U.S. 'in for a shock' In early election results, Shiite cleric's alliance trouncing Washington's favorite" by Borzou Daragahi, Chronicle Foreign Service

"Baghdad -- Partial results from Sunday's election suggest that U.S.-backed Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's coalition is being roundly defeated by a list with the backing of Iraq's senior Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al- Sistani, diminishing Allawi's chances of retaining his post in the next government.

Sharif Ali bin Hussein, head of the Constitutional Monarchy Party, likened the vote outcome to a "Sistani tsunami" that would shake the nation.

'Americans are in for a shock,' he said, adding that one day they would realize, 'We've got 150,000 troops here protecting a country that's extremely friendly to Iran, and training their troops.'

The partial totals so far show the Iraqi List headed by Allawi, a secular Shiite and onetime CIA protege, trailed far behind with only 18 percent of the votes, despite an aggressive television ad campaign waged with U.S. aid. A lopsided majority of votes, 72 percent, went to the United Iraqi Alliance list, topped by a Shiite cleric who lived in Iran for many years and whose Sciri party has close ties to Iran's clerical regime. More than a third of the alliance's vote came from Baghdad, the cosmopolitan capital where Allawi had been expected to fare well. "

Hard to imagine that Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld haven't yet lined up their Iraqi Ken Blackwell.